The petition to remove this Protein World campaign from London Underground stations gained 70,000 signatures in 2015.
Photograph: Catherine Wylie/PA

The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has moved to ban from the city’s transport network adverts that promote unrealistic expectations about body image and health.

Khan, elected in May, has told Transport for London to stop running body-shaming ads amid concerns that the advertising “can demean people, particularly women”.

He had pledged to tackle advertising on the tube network during his campaign after ads such as the “Beach body ready” campaign last April led to protests. An online petition calling for their removal attracted more than 70,000 signatures.

The company behind the ads, Protein World, was accused of “directly targeting individuals, aiming to make them feel physically inferior to the unrealistic body image of the bronzed model, in order to sell their product”.

It was not banned by the Advertising Standards Authority despite more than 200 complaints.

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In a statement, Khan said: “As the father of two teenage girls, I am extremely concerned about this kind of advertising which can demean people, particularly women, and make them ashamed of their bodies. It is high time it came to an end.

“Nobody should feel pressurised, while they travel on the tube or bus, into unrealistic expectations surrounding their bodies and I want to send a clear message to the advertising industry about this.

The mayor’s office said it had also asked TfL to set set up a steering group in partnership with its advertising agencies, Exterion Media and JCDecaux, to monitor and review compliance with rules. Between them the two companies manage TfL’s £1.5bn advertising business, which runs around 12,000 ads a year.

TfL’s commercial development director, Graeme Craig, said: “Advertising on our network is unlike TV, online and print media. Our customers cannot simply switch off or turn a page if an advertisement offends or upsets them and we have a duty to ensure the copy we carry reflects that unique environment.”